Tribulations
by Konona
Summary: Slight AU where Armin is a titan shifter instead of Eren. This story is based around what would have happened in the plotline is this happened. This story will follow the plotline of the manga, and will contain spoilers past the anime eventually. Rated T for gore because I'm paranoid.
1. Lost to the Dark

_"Armin!" _The pained voice of a brunette boy cried out in dismay as he watched his friend swerve and dive towards the ground, metal cables shooting out of the piece he held in his hand. The blonde had a panicked look to his eye, and as his body was propelled forward at an amazing rate, there was fear, plain and simple, spread all over his face.

For a moment, it looked like he was going to make it out of the open space and be able to avoid the colossal beasts directly behind him, however, there was no such luck, and as Eren Jeager looked on in utter horror, he heard the horrendous scream of his childhood friend. He couldn't see the other boy, but the sound of his vocal cords sharing their terror with any who would listen made him sick. He stared on in shock at the roof of the other building, lost in gruesome thoughts.

A few moments – that admittedly felt like a lifetime – later, a figure landed roughly next to him, and Eren's head snapped around, ready to scream at whoever it was that was going to bother him. However, his eyes filled with shock and then overwhelming relief as he saw the hunched over figure of none other than Armin Arlert himself sprawled onto the roof tiles. In confusion, he looked his friend over. It took him approximately a split second to realize that his friend's leg was gone, and that it had obviously been bitten off by a titan.

An almost-growl filled the trainee's throat, and he lifted his head up to the sky. "Damn it!" He rose to unsteady feet and stumbled up towards his friend, searching around for something to stop the blood that flowed out of the quick-witted boy's stump of a limb. Yet, he saw with eyes desperate and needy, only destruction was to be found. "I promise, I'll destroy every one of them! I'll make them pay for what they did to you; for what they've done to all of us." Buildings sat destroyed wherever he looked, and a deep part of him knew that there was no way they could retake Trost – all they could hope for was that the citizens would get out soon and the remaining soldiers could escape. However, if the armored titan showed itself once more, and broke through Wall Rose's gate… Yet on the surface, he was screaming to keep the fight going. He felt himself mentally commanding his own body to stand and continue the fight, but as he looked down at his friend, he felt-

There was a sudden, massive puff of scalding air surrounding him, and Eren haltingly turned around, steeling himself for the titan that was gaping at him, maw poised and ready to snap shut, swallowing the boy along the way. The brunette didn't know what to do but stand as the mouth closed shut around him rapidly, but his body reacted on its own. His arms pushed against the roof of the mouth, and his feet forcefully kept the bottom of the jaw from shutting. He strained with all of his might, and it was in that moment that Armin's eyes met his. Both of the boys looked at each other, and then Armin was hurtling forward, flinging himself into the giant mouth and forcing Eren out with as strong of a push as he could manage. He tried to assume the position the stronger of the two had been in, but he didn't have the strength to hold it steady, and as his grip wavered, he looked at his friend with eyes that poured out salty water. "Goodbye, Eren." He whispered, his voice rough and emotional. "I really wanted… to see the outside world with you."

And then, the mouth had shut; snapping off the left arm of the blonde in the process, and the bearded titan threw back its head and gulped, all the while with a pleased look on its face. Eren, his expression horrified, let out a belated cry of anguish. The titan, for the moment, paid him no mind, and he sat grieving, lost in his own personal regrets and thoughts.

**{ * fancy breakline wow ~ }**

Armin felt unbearable pain, and that was all he felt. He saw nothing, he heard nothing, and for all he knew, he was nothing. He tumbled downwards in what must have been a nearly endless spiral, until he landed with a sticky, gooey collapse into a liquid that was as red as blood. In fact, it was nearly an identical match. Why was there blood sitting all around him? It tangled itself in his blonde hair, wove itself between his fingers – how strange that he could only move the ones on his right hand –and soaked his clothes, but it didn't seem to be his own.

Lifting his head, the frightened young boy examined his surroundings, and his eyes widened at what he found. He allowed his full consciousness to snap back to his presence, and knew that sheer terror was overtaking his body. Stepping back, he felt his remaining leg brush against something, and turned to see a head, with no attached body in sight, bobbing against his body. He let out a blood-curdling scream, one that the outside world would never see, because he was trapped inside the stomach of a titan, and there was no one on the outside who he could communicate with through the thick walls of skin.

However, as it turned out, there were people _within_ the gorey prison that could still communicate, because his scream set off a child's voice, calling out for its mother over and over again until it eventually sunk underneath the blood and was silent. Eyes wide, Armin spun around, facing the direction of the voice. It reminded him so much of the desperation that had faced him five years ago, when he was in Shiganshina and witnessing firsthand just how much suffering the titans could cause.

On that day that he dared not remember at night, lest nightmares keep him from sleep, there had been so many voices just like the one of that child. There had been children and adults alike, all in a sea of rushing human bodies, calling out for family members or friends who had either already escaped or were likely already devoured by the beasts that had ravaged the homes.

There had been all of the human beings who had died, screaming and calling out for help, or for their loved ones to run, but who truly wished to flee and save themselves. It was so easy to play the role of the person who sacrificed themself when one was already going to die, yet when presented with a choice of playing that role or self-survival, there was hardly anyone who wouldn't choose the latter.

Armin himself, though only a young child at the time, had chosen to run away and leave the others who struggled to make way through the crowd behind. Yes, he had run and fetched Hannes in order to save Eren and Mikasa, but he hadn't stayed to make sure that they made it out safely. What sort of friend was he, to have abandoned them at such a time?

_You aren't a bad friend_, some deep part of him whispered. _After all, you just sacrificed yourself to save Eren._

He glanced once more around the cavernous walls, feeling desolate loneliness and utter despair wash over him.

**{ * fancy breakline wow ~ }**

"Eren, what are you doing, sitting there like that? C'mon, we have to go find the others. We have to keep moving."

Eren, they had called him. Were they referring to Eren Jeager, the boy who had let his best friend die through being eaten alive, and then sat there, huddling to himself while the titan that had swallowed him walked away? He didn't want to be that Eren – he didn't want to be the type of person who let someone else take death in his place and then didn't even avenge the guardian who had saved his life.

He sat, knees pulled up to his chest, hands resting on his forehead, as he stared blankly at the tiles of the rooftop. One of the only two people in the entire world who were there for him when he had no family was dead, and it was all his own fault.

"Oi, snap out of it! What happened?" Worried eyes belonging to Connie Springer met his own, and he felt hands tugging him upwards, and then supporting his weight when he couldn't quite stand on his own. "Geez, just sitting here like bait. Do you want to die, you idiot?"

Green eyes suddenly filled with rage, the brunette snapped around. "Of course not!" His voice was bitter and ragged, as though he was still replaying the memory of Armin's demise over and over in his head. "I can't die yet. I have to destroy every single one of those damned titans. I can't stop until they're all gone!" He exploded towards the end of his sentence, anger filling him down to his very core.

Connie took a step backwards, hands held out in surrender. It was obvious that he didn't know why Eren was acting strangely, but that he simply wanted to get the two of them out of the area. "Whatever your issue is, we need to regroup. The titans just keep coming in; we need to get to the supply tower as a group."

The brunette sagged, allowing Connie to take on his full weight. How was he supposed to explain to the group that Armin, who had always been so gentle and had never gotten into the stupid fights the rest of the trainees did, was dead?

** { * fancy breakline wow ~ }**

Everything burned as Armin saw his life flash before his eyes. He saw memories of Mikasa, Eren, and himself all playing together, of the two friends who had also been his protectors shielding him when the other children of their village decided to attack him. He remembered the books he had used to read about flaming water, frozen earth, and bodies of water so huge that you couldn't see the end of them. Most of all, though, he remembered the promise he had made: to someday go see the world that he was born into with Eren.

Tears stinging his face from memories and pain combined, he felt a strange sensation overtake him, as though a sudden power was filling his body, and with a loud bang, and a horrible ripping noise unlike anything he'd ever heard before, Armin lost himself to darkness.

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**A/N: **So, this story is (hopefully!) going to go on for a little while. I know that this chapter is pretty bad, but I needed to be able to set up the whole situation we see going on here~ If you want to see more, review!


	2. The Abnormal

**A/N:** Thank you guys so much for all the support on that first chapter not being as bad as I made it out to be. You're all too sweet.

There are some more notes at the bottom, so if you want, you could go read those after you read this chapter.

* * *

Armin felt his heart sink down into the pit of his belly as an awful screeching sound surrounded him. If someone had dragged a sharp brass key across a metal plane, he doubted it could have sounded any worse.

His body felt like a fever had taken over it from the outside in, and he knew in his gut that that was important, but he couldn't quite recall why. Was he sick? That would make sense. After all, his eyes were shut tightly closed as though he had been asleep for a while. Maybe he should look around, if that were the case. Someone might be nearby and able to explain what was going on.

Without much of a response from his body, he attempted to pry open his blue orbs, but they remained firmly shut, as though some unsurmountable pressure was bearing down on the upper lids and rendering him unable to see. It was an odd sensation that, as far as Armin could tell, wasn't supposed to be happening. Why hadn't his eyelids opened at his body's command?

Quite frankly, the blond knew at least a little about the human body, and he knew for a fact that if his nerves weren't reacting properly to the electrical signals his brain sent out, then something wasn't right. Inside, he felt that he knew what it was that was causing him so much difficulty, but at the same time, it was as though someone had put an impossibly thick wall in his brain, keeping him from everything but the present.

However, there was a problem with that theory. At the present moment, he could feel his body stirring against his own will, although he was unable to pinpoint which limbs moved and what exactly they were doing. It felt torturous, like a parasite had implanted itself into his system as was controlling his every movement while keeping his conscious eerily placid. Worry knotted him into an uncomfortable feeling of being shoved into a corner helplessly.

If there was one thing Armin was sure would help, however, it was focus. Allowing his mind to run wild with awful thoughts wasn't going to help him escape his current predicament. Sure that he would have taken deep breaths had he been in a state of bodily connection, he allowed himself to reach out, doing his very best to strain his senses. It took him what he could only assume was a few decent minutes, but he was finally able to detect the noise of heavy stomping. Excitement picking up, he knew he was clinging desperately to the hope that someone was approaching him - preferably someone who could help him out of his current situation.

To his misfortune, for all of his desperate longing, the obnoxiously loud footsteps did not seem to be getting any nearer. Strangely enough, though, although he could tell that the feet they belonged to were moving forward, they didn't grow any more distant than what appeared to be only a few feet in front of him. There was that same nagging urge in the back of his mind that his body was moving, and the thought struck him that he could be following behind what was making the noises.

Yet surely he would know if he was moving that much within his own body… right?

**{ * fancy breakline wow ~ }**

When Mikasa found Eren, she could tell instinctively that something wasn't right.

For one, he was leaning against one of the windows that were stationed on the wall of a higher story of the building whose roof some of the surviving trainees had gathered on. His face was cast in shadow, and his eyes were completely covered by his hands, whose fingers reached up into the end of his hairline.

"Eren?" She asked, obvious concern in her voice, yet her expression oddly distant. She didn't understand what had overcome her adoptive brother, and in the silence that followed, gazed around. "Where's Armin?" It wouldn't be at all like him to leave the weaker boy behind, which made this situation all the more strange.

"Those…" He trailed off, tears dribbling down his face from where his hair covered it. It took him a moment to catch his breath, moving his hand from covering his line of sight to resting on the crown of his head, touching his scalp and partially hidden under his chocolate hair. "Of Trainee Corps team 34– Thomas Wagner, Nac Tias, Milius Zeramuski, Mina Carolina, and… Armin Arlert-" There was a pause between his friend's name and the four others, as though he had struggled to get the words out. "All accomplished their duties and were heroically killed in action." The sentence finally ended on a whisper, Eren looking as though he had a million men's guilt in his heart.

Hushed mumbles of shock and distress spread throughout the nearby adolescents, as each and every one of them took into consideration that an entire group had been wiped out, save for one man. "He sacrificed himself for me… Oh God, I'm so sorry." His speech was made for not only the purpose of informing the Asian girl in front of him of the fate that was bestowed upon their childhood friend, but to plead forgiveness from the blond on the off chance that he may be listening. Although she felt her heart leap into her throat, Mikasa kept a careful mask on her face, leaving it devoid of any emotion that might have otherwise graced it. "Eren…" She murmured, her tone as emotionless as her appearance. "Calm down. There was nothing you could have done."

The brunette glanced up sharply, his jaw slightly opened, eyes filled with salty water. "Stand up." She commanded softly, dragging him to his feet and pacing back to where the rest of the trainees stood, having soaked in the entire scene with slowly increasing dismay. "If we eliminate the titans swarming HQ, we can refuel and climb the walls."

Marco took up her statement with one of his own, his entire body coated in a filmy layer of sweat. "That's true, but even with you here now, there are too many-"

"I'll do it." Eren interrupted, although it was obvious that his adopted sibling had been about to say something. "I swore years ago to kill the titans, and now, with Armin gone, I want to keep that promise more than ever." All eyes turned to him, and he lifted his head boldly, the tears that had moistened his view now dried streaks lining his cheeks. "I will defeat the titans, even if I have to do it alone."

An outburst from a nearby young man rang in the ears of everyone present. "Idiot! What are you saying? You can't take on all of those titans by yourself!"

"If I can't, I'll die." Eren said, his voice curling up into a light growl. His determination was noteworthy, and it was no wonder that those in charge of their training had recognized him for it. It seemed as though no amount of logic would stop him, and that would likely be his ultimate downfall. "But if I win, then I'll live. If I don't fight, then I can't win."

His feelings expressed, he aimed his 3d Maneuver Gear, flinging himself off to the next building.

A shocked outburst of protesting voices failed to follow him, exclaiming that he would die if he threw himself into battle recklessly. However, they were far from reaching the boy's ears, and the shouts died off as quickly as they had come. After a few moments of silence, Jean stepped forward, shaking his head, a pained expression written upon him.

"Was that supposed to be an inspirational speech?" Jean spat, eyes staring blankly at the red-tinted singles on the roof below. Damn it Eren, this is all your fault!" He lifted his rift hand, sword at the ready and clutched within it. "Oi, were we trained to sit by and let our comrades fight alone? Are you going to let that suicidal bastard upstage us?" He asked them as a group, looking like he'd very much like to do just that. However, her ran forward, shot his 3DM onto the nearest building, and left to seek out a battle with a monstrous beast.

Connie, Reiner and Annie were some of the first to follow his example, quickly taking off after him. Sasha, already perched precariously on the edge of the roof, shouted out various insults to the others who hadn't yet made a movement. "Cowards! Wimps! Idiots!" She screamed, leaving with Marco following closely behind. After a mere millisecond, the rest of the assembled trainees voiced their acceptance with incoherent screams, bounding off of the roof with grace instilled in the wire cords attached to them. Mikasa, still stunned into complete silence, took this time to look up, and followed along with the group, surging forward from the back to the front, near Jean and the others who had left the earliest.

"Follow Eren! We need to get to the Supply Tower before our gas runs out!" Jean cried out, and as his fellow corps members followed, comments were shouted at each other, mainly directions on the best way to survive. Organized chaos was quickly ensuing.

"He really is amazing, though. Look at how quickly he's moving – I didn't think that the idiot had it in him." Connie commented, watching Eren from their position a little ways back as he tore through the neck of a titan. He was as reckless as ever, and while that would likely lead to mistakes along the way, at the present moment, he was putting on a good show.

Mikasa, however, knew that something about his speed was off, and she watched in mild horror as she realized what that something was. "No, Eren, you're using too much fuel…" She whispered to herself, too quiet to be heard by anyone around her. As her adoptive brother sped, quickly headed in a direction where all visibility of him would be lost, her eyes widened.

"He's even more reckless than usual right now." Jean muttered, also having noticed the predicament the young Jeager was in. The black-haired girl could only find herself nodding slightly in agreement. _At this rate, he'll…_

Before anyone could have expected, the plumes of smoke symbolizing the over-usage of gas died off without any warning, and Eren's momentum upwards was halted, gravity pulled him down to the mantle of the Earth in a desperate attempt to claim him. His body, fortunately, didn't land on the ground, and instead hit a rooftop. Mikasa thanked any deities that may have been watching over the desperate humans for his granted safety, however, as she swung to go to him, calling out "Eren!" as she went, his body disappeared over the ledge of the ceiling and tumbled downwards. It was all she could do to hold back a sob, Connie following after her to help her retrieve Eren.

**{ * fancy breakline wow ~ }**

Eren stared up at the blue sky, lined with only a few clouds, sun shining down on his face. He reached one arm up desperately, sword still clenched tightly in his fist, and could only find one thought racing through his mind.

_Again…_

_I lost someone important to me again._

He managed to bring himself off of the cloaked pieces of wood he had landed on despite the pain coursing through his body, landing on his knees. He could only stare down at his hands, bleeding now from gripping the handles of his swords to harshly. _Do I have to go through this pain again?_ He thought, thinking back to the first time he had felt this heartbrokenness.

Heavy footsteps shook the ground around him, and he noted in the back of his mind that, although he could not see the proof, there was a titan approaching him. There was no other reason that thumping slower than he racing heartbeat yet louder than the blood rushing in his ears would be sounding in the alleyway.

_I'm not ready to die._ Eren thought with panic, but his body wouldn't move at his command. It instead steadily refused to move, until the very moment that the titan swung at him. With such force that it hurt, he found himself spinning around to face the collosal beast, his sword drawing blood with a powerful slash to the wrist. He knew that he was rushing to back up while keeping his eyes forward, but he felt balanced, and strangely calm, even as he stared death in the eyes. Why? Why could he face this desolate situation that would likely overwhelm him, body and soul, as though he didn't have a care in the world?

As he stood, lost in these thoughts, a massive hand swung at him, swatting him back against the wall with a force that caused him to slump over. However, his overwhelming desire to keep living rooted him to the wall, keeping his back pressed against it and his knees supporting his body. The hand swung again, this time knocking him to the side, where there was nothing but a slightly distant set of steps to break his tumble.

His body felt like it was made of glass and shattering with each blow, and Eren felt himself cough up a splatter of blood from where the repeated swipes had damaged him, but he pulled himself into a kneeling position nonetheless, attempted to catch his breath raggedly as he gazed on to a pomegranate that was sitting near the wall opposite him. If he had been more of a philosophical person, he probably would have found some deep meaning behind its presence, sitting there undisturbed but for a seemingly intentional, orderly slice cut from it. Despite all of the destruction and decay, it had not been harmed but for that cut and he found a strange comfort in its presence.

_Armin…_ He thought to himself, the crashing sound of the titan falling, crushing a segment of the wall of the buildings on the same side ringing in his ears. _Why did you have to die? It isn't fair. It isn't _fair_. I told Mikasa to fight, but maybe I should have told it to you as well. You shouldn't have sacrificed yourself for me. Is life that bad? I would like to think…_ A mental pause. _I would like to imagine that there is no end to which we as humans would keep fighting for our lives._

An enormous face appeared over him, beaming down at him with a smile too surreal to be anything human. It wasn't quite joy that filled the monster's facial expression, but there was something of a cruel representation of it there for sure. Of course, the only true pleasure these terrible beings ever felt was when they were swallowing a human, and he thought back to the unreasonably overjoyed look that the bearded titan had held when it had swallowed Armin. Anger overwhelmed his system, his ears burning red hot with rage. The titan continued to approach, and he tensed up, raising his swords to the best of his ability. _I will fight. I won't give up. I won't-_

Even heavier footsteps came from behind him, and as Eren spun around, he saw himself looking right at a second titan, this one bracing itself against the torn up wall and practically stumbling into the alleyway. Its face was cast down to the ground, so he couldn't quite make out what its head looked like, save for long blond hair that reached down to its shoulders and looked layered out, hanging in front of its face. It was tall, impossibly tall, in fact, at least 15 meters and horrifyingly huge. It was different from the other titans, though, the brunette noticed absently. For one, it didn't have a bloated belly and fattened limbs. It had arms and legs that were slim and yet surprisingly toned looking, as though they could have just as easily dodged cannons as they could have knocked a building over without much thought at all. It had actual muscle on its flat stomach, and he had to admit that the beast looked surprisingly flimsy compared to the others of its species. Although it had an obviously strengthened abdomen, it didn't have impossibly huge muscles, only an underlying strength and obvious agility.

However, none of that mattered, he realized, when he was cornered between two things hellbent on devouring him, left without 3D Maneuver Gear to escape the situation, or enough leverage to swipe at the necks of either of the beasts. Spinning, he turned back to the original, slightly smaller titan, who was much closer than the other one, only a few meters away. Could he truly overpower – no, _survive_ – them both? Someone else might have called it unlikely but – _I promised to kill all the titans. _He told himself, bracing himself with swords raised. _I have to fight. I have to-_

Eren found himself thrown up in the air, staring down at the ground a few feet below him, now cracked and caved in from where a giant foot – probably about two times the size of his whole body – stood. The blonde titan had lunged forward, and with a fist that managed to look both impossibly human and incredibly inexperienced, punched the first titan directly in the face.

Blood in huge measures splattered the walls, and it was all the boy could do to brace himself as he hit the ground, looking up at the massive figure that was still standing. "What..?" He asked no one in particular, not able to complete his thought. The blond titan's face was now fully visible, sunlight shining on it, and Eren was surprised to see blue eyes, just the same color as the sky had been before gloomy clouds had gathered, surprisingly human and laying in a rounded face. The shape of its head had an almost childish look to it, with round, large cheeks, a curved chin, and a small (in relative comparison) button nose. The only part of its face that didn't quite fit were the skeletal-like teeth that looked more than able to snap a human body clean in half with only the lightest of pressure.

The beast let out a fearsome roar, and Eren flinched visibly, expected it to turn and snatch him up violently, but instead, it moved quickly over to the fallen titan, which was now attempted to regain its balance. The abnormal slammed his fist awkwardly, yet very human-like, in the other titan's face once more, and then began kicking it repeatedly once it had fallen down. The sight was disturbing, gory, and unnatural, but it also meant that the titan was hurting another of its own kind, which wasn't regular behavior by any means. As far as the military had been able to tell, titans held very little interest in each other, or for any living creature except humans for that matter. Why one would suddenly attack another was beyond Eren.

It proceeded to smash on the other's neck until the nape had been damaged enough that the titan would be unable to regenerate and would merely steam itself out of existence, dead. Once it seemed satisfied, it looked up to the sky, an impossible sadness and confusion in its bright blue eyes that were so familiar for a reason that Eren couldn't place.

At that moment, Mikasa swooped in, tears of worry her eyes, and flung herself along with the brunette onto the nearest rooftop. "Eren, are you hurt?" She asked desperately, her eyes quickly scanning along his face and body for any signs of damage. Connie followed soon after her, landing much more gracefully beside the two and looking over them both in worry.

"Are you two alright? We need to move!" Connie spoke with a raised voice, before hearing the sound of thunderous footsteps and turning around with a light gasp. "Shit! Two 15-meter classes!" He said with despair slathered all over his tone of voice.

Eren grunted slightly, moving to stand up, leaning slightly on his adopted sister. "No, that titan…" He said, gesturing toward the blond one that had saved him, who was now facing off against another one at about its same size. He saw Mikasa's eyes travel to where the disintegrating corpse of the previously exterminated titan lay, and heard her draw in breath sharply. The blond titan let out a roar that sounded more animal that human, but had raw pain in its infliction. It assumed a human fighting pose, right foot in front of the left, fists raised separately in front of its chest, leaving the three observing humans stunned.

The abnormal slammed its fist into the other titan's head with a sickening crack of enormous bone, and the head flew off of the body, smashing into a window a good distance away, blood soaking the wall. The force struck so hard that the fingers of the hand that punched flew right off of the blond titan's body. It appeared to be holding them up in shock, however, the bones and skin forming the hand regrew themselves in a matter of seconds, both a disturbing and revolting process. The headless body began to push itself off of the ground, however, the abnormal stomped its full weight down upon the neck of it with a single foot, both crushing and killing it instantly.

"He knew where to strike in order to kill it?" Mikasa whispered, her voice full of disbelief at the concept.

Frightened, Connie looked at the other two with wide eyes. "We need to get out of here!" He urged, obviously on the brink of panic. "Before it comes after us as well!"

"But it isn't showing any interest in us, even after it had plenty of chances to attack us by now." Mikasa paused, watching the strange titan with a blank expression. "It fought in the style of human hand-to-hand combat, too. I've never heard of a titan doing that before."

Eren's eyes were filled with interested passion as he replayed the scene again and again in his mind. "What is it?" He asked, not sure if there was a proper answer to that question, or ever could be.

"We have to just assume it's another aberrant. We don't know much about the titans anyways." Connie muttered. "Anyways, we need to get to HQ."

Mikasa spun around, worry in her eyes. "Wait!" She exclaimed. "Eren's out of gas…"

Eren had completely forgotten that he was, in fact, completely out of fuel with all of the excitement happening around him. His sister, however, was already in motion. Even though she probably would have been a better person to keep alive, she was overprotective as always, and had already switched out her gas canister with the brunette's before he had time to even begin to protest.

He could only think about how his recklessness had first gotten Armin killed, and now was leaving one of the two people who had mattered most in his life without a means of transporting herself while staying out of the reach of titans.

Guilt overriding his system, Eren looked at the Asian girl with eyes rekindled with a new blaze, the only picture in his mind the face of the abnormal titan when it had destroyed the titan that had been about to eat him. It had been sad, lost, confused, and perhaps, through all of it, just a little too _human_ to put his mind at ease.

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**A/N:** I know, I know, I'm still playing off of the canon timeline, but I really have to until the we're caught up to about 9 or 10. I promise that we'll be getting into some unique misadventures at some point. I also can totally see myself turning this into an Eremin fic, which only goes to show how much of a crazed fanatic I am. Anyways, thank you guys so much again for your sweet comments, and if you liked this chapter and want me to continue the story, don't forget to review. It keeps me encouraged. If you want a certain little line or something in this story I guess I do stuff like that, too, if you mention it in your review. So long as it fits, I'll try and fit in anything you guys wanna see? I just want anyone reading this to be happy with what they see because, honestly, it makes me happy to have people reading what I write.

- Konona


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